Satellite News

Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court has accepted a lawsuit seeking to cancel licenses given to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s former business empire, including Shin Satellite PCL.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract modification valued at more than US$7.6 million to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. for software and hardware changes to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system.

NASA is extending a previous contract action with ATK Thiokol to continue design and development of the first stage for the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The extension has a maximum value of US$35 million.

The upper composite of ESA’s new small launcher has passed its vibration tests at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC).

EUMETSAT confirmed 17 October as the new launch date for MetOp-A, Europe’s first polar-orbiting satellite.

The European geostationary weather satellite Meteosat-8, f.k.a. MSG-1, went into safe mode on 23 September owing to a Single Event Upset.